Oog and Ogg

The Analogy:

Oog and Ogg, two cavemen, were walking through the primeval forest one day when they heard a twig snap in the trees behind them. Oog immediately thought, "Saber-toothed tiger!" and took off at top speed in the other direction. Ogg turned around and said, "Uh.... What's that?"

Guess whose decendents we are.

The Meaning of the Analogy:

From the earliest days of our existence as a species, the ability to rapidly identify the things in our surroundings has been a major part of our survival. It is a strong factor of our human nature that we have to name things, and do so as quickly as possible, whether we have enough information for a correct naming or not.

Let us assume that there is a part of our brain called the "Namer and Guesser" (NAG) which will, given the barest minimum of data, jump to a conclusion. It tries to name everything. If it can't name it, it will make a guess. If it can't make a good guess, it will draw from your imagination, memories, fears or desire, and create a conclusion. It is within our nature to do so.

So, in a remote viewing session, we get, say, "big", "mechanical", "loud", "red". With the impression of "mechanical", our NAG says, "It's a big machine! It's industry! It's a large factory!" Then, with the impression, "loud", the NAG says, "Ah ha! I was right!" Then, with the impression of "red", the NAG says, "No! Wait! It's a firetruck! Yeah! That's it! It's a firetruck!"

This mental process is natural, and there is really nothing you can do to prevent it from happening. But in remote viewing, you have to always be aware of the process and realize when you have jumped to a conclusion. Then, you can take that conclusion and set it aside, waiting for more information to come in.

In Controlled Remote Viewing, these conclusions are called either STRAY CATs (Subliminal Transference of Recollections, Anxieties and Yearnings to Consciously Accessible Thought) or AOLs (Analytic OverLays).

The good thing about the brain's NAG is that it ALWAYS comes up with a noun. That makes it very easy to tell which thoughts come from your subconscious and which come from the NAG, because the subconscious thinks in concepts and gestalts - it doesn't think in nouns.

So, in the very beginning of a session, when you really don't have enough information to truly decipher the incoming impressions, the rule is - Set Aside all nouns. You will find that doing so will make your accuracy rise significantly, and will also keep you from jumping to bad conclusions as you work.

You cannot stop your mind's production of AOLs or STRAY CATs, but by recognizing them for what they are - the viewer's modern version of the saber toothed tiger - you can keep them at bay long enough to get good and valid target information.